General Nelson A. Miles on the "Sioux
Outbreak" of 1890

I.

STATEMENT OF GENERAL MILES

From the Report of the Secretary of War for 1891,
Vol. I, pp, 133, 134, and 149.

Cause of Indian dissatisfaction -- The causes that led to the
serious disturbance of the peace in the northwest last autumn and
winter were so remarkable that an explanation of them is necessary in
order to comprehend the seriousness of the situation. The Indians
assuming the most threatening attitude of hostility were the
Cheyennes and Sioux. Their condition my be stated as follows: For
several years following their subjugation in 1877, 1878, and 1879 the
most dangerous element of the Cheyennes and the Sioux were under
military control. Many of them were disarmed and dismounted; their
war ponies were sold and the proceeds returned to them in domestic
stock, farming utensils, wagons, etc. Many of the Cheyennes, under
the charge of military officers, were located on land in accordance
with the laws of Congress, but after they were turned over to civil
agents and the vase herds of buffalo and large game had been
destroyed their supplies were insufficient, and they were forced to
kill cattle belonging to white people to sustain life.

The fact that they had not received sufficient food is admitted by
the agents and the officers of the government who have had
opportunities of knowing. The majority of the Sioux were under the
charge of civil agents, frequently changed and often inexperienced.
Many of the tribes became rearmed and remounted. They claimed that
the government had not fulfilled its treaties and had failed to make
large enough appropriations for their support; that they had suffered
for want of food, and the evidence of this is beyond question and
sufficient to satisfy any unprejudiced intelligent mind. The
statements of officers, inspectors, both of the military and the
Interior departments, of agents, of missionaries, ad civilians
familiar with their condition, leave no room for reasonable doubt
that this was one of the principal causes. While statements may be
made as to the amount of money that has been expended by the
government to feed the different tribes, the manner of distributing
those appropriations will furnish one reason for the deficit.

The unfortunate failure of the crops in the plains country during
the years of 1889 and 1890 added to the distress and suffering of the
Indians, and it was possible for them to raise but very little from
the ground for self-support; in fact, white settlers have been most
unfortunate, and their losses have been serious and universal
throughout a large section of that country. They have struggled on
from year to year; occasionally they would raise good crops, which
they were compelled to sell at low prices, while in the season of
drought their labor was almost entirely lost. So serious have been
their misfortunes that thousands have left that country within the
last few years, passing over the mountains to the Pacific slope or
returning to the east of the Missouri or the Mississippi.

The Indians, however, could not migrate from one part of the
United States to another; neither could they obtain employment as
readily as white people, either upon or beyond the Indian
reservations. They must remain in comparative idleness and accept the
results of the drought-an insufficient supply of food. This created a
feeling of discontent even among the loyal and well disposed and
added to the feeling of hostility of the element opposed to every
process of civilization.

The commanding officer at Fort Yates, North Dakota, under date of
December 7, 1890, at the time the Messiah delusion was approaching a
climax, says, in reference to the disaffection of the Sioux Indians
at Standing Rock agency, that it is due to the following causes:

(1) Failure of the government to establish an equitable southern
boundary of the Standing Rock agency reservation.

(2) Failure of the government to expend a just proportion of the
money received from the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul railroad
company, for right of way privileges, for the benefit of the Indians
of said agency. Official notice was received October 18, 1881, by the
Indian agent at the Standing Rock agency, that the said railroad
company had paid the government under its agreement with the Sioux
Indians, for right of way privileges, the sum of $13,911. What
additional payments, if any, have been made by the said railroad
company, and what payments have been made by the Dakota Central
railroad company, the records of the agency do not show. In 1883, and
again in 1885, the agent, upon complaints made by the Indians, wrote
to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, making certain recommendations
as regards the expenditure of the money received from the said
railroad company, but was in each instance informed that until
Congress took action with respect to the funds referred to nothing
could be done. No portion of the money had been expended up to that
time (December, 1890) for the benefit of the Indians of the agency,
and frequent complaints had been made to the agent by the Indians
because they had received no benefits from their concessions to the
said railroad companies.

(3) Failure of the government to issue the certificates of title
to allotments, as required by article 6 of the treaty of 1868.

(4) Failure of the government to provide the full allowance of
seeds and agricultural implements to Indians engaged in farming, as
required in article 8, treaty of 1868.

(5) Failure of the government to issue to such Indians the full
number of cows and oxen provided in article 10, treaty of 1876.

(7) Failure of the government to issue to the Indians the full
ration stipulated in article 5, treaty of 1876. (For the fiscal year
beginning July 1, 1890, the following shortages in the rations were
found to exist: 485,275 pounds of beef [gross], 761,212 pounds of
corn, 11,937 pounds of coffee, 281,712 pounds of flour, 26,234 pounds
of sugar, and 39,852 pounds of beans. Although the obligations of the
government extend no further than furnishing so much of the ration
prescribed in article 5 as may be necessary for the support of the
Indians, it would seem that, owing to the almost total failure of
crops upon the Standing Rock reservation for the past four years, and
the absence of game, the necessity for the issue of the full ration
to the Indians here was never greater than at the present
time-December, 1890.)

(8) Failure of the government to issue to the Indians the full
amount of annuity supplies to which they were entitled under the
provisions of article 10, treaty of 1868.

(9) Failure of the government to have the clothing and other
annuity supplies ready for issue on the first day of August of each
year. Such supplies have not been ready for issue to the Indians, as
a rule, until the winter season is well advanced. (After careful
examination at this agency, the commanding officer is convinced that
not more than two-thirds of the supplies provided in article 10 have
been issued there, and the government has never complied with that
provision of article 10 which requires the supplies enumerated in
paragraphs 2, 3, and 4 of said article to be delivered on or before
the first day of August of each year. Such supplies for the present
fiscal year, beginning July 1, 1890, had not yet reached (December,
1890) the nearest railway station, about 60 miles distant, from which
point they must, at this season of the year, be freighted to this
agency in wagons. It is now certain that the winter will be well
advanced before the Indians at this agency receive their annual
allowance of clothing and other annuity supplies.)

(10) Failure of the government to appropriate money for the
payment of the Indians for the ponies taken from them, by the
authority of the government, in 1876.

In conclusion, the commanding officer says: "It, however, appears
from the foregoing, that the government has failed to fulfill its
obligations, and in order to render the Indians law-abiding,
peaceful, contented, and prosperous it is strongly recommended that
the treaties be promptly and fully carried out, and that the promises
made by the commission in 1889 be faithfully kept."

III.

FIELD DISPATCHES OF GENERAL MILES

[Following are two telegrams sent from the field by
General Miles at the beginning of the trouble.]

RAPID CITY, SOUTH DAKOTA, December 19, 1890.
Senator DAWES,
Washington, District of Columbia:

You may be assured of the following facts that can not be
gainsaid:

First. The forcing process of attempting to make large bodies of
Indians self-sustaining when the government was cutting down their
rations and their crops almost a failure, is one cause of the
difficulty.

Second. While the Indians were urged and almost forced to sign a
treaty presented to them by the commission authorized by Congress, in
which they gave up a valuable portion of their reservation which is
now occupied by white people, the government has failed to fulfill
its part of the compact, and instead of an increase or even a
reasonable supply for their support, they have been compelled to live
on half and two-thirds rations, and received nothing for the
surrender of their lands, neither has the government given any
positive assurance that they intend to do any differently with them
in the future.

Congress has been in session several weeks and could, if it were
disposed, in a few hours confirm the treaties that its commissioners
have made with these Indians and appropriate the necessary funds for
its fulfillment, and thereby give an earnest of their good faith or
intention to fulfill their part of the compact. Such action, in my
judgment, is essential to restore confidence with the Indians and
give peace and protection to the settlements. If this be done, and
the President authorized to place the turbulent and dangerous tribes
of Indians under the control of the military, Congress need not enter
into details, but can safely trust the military authorities to
subjugate and govern, and in the near future make self-sustaining,
any or all of the Indian tribes of this country.

RAPID CITY, SOUTH DAKOTA, December 19, 1890.
General, JOHN M. SCHOFIELD,
Commanding the Army, Washington, District of Columbia:

Replying to your long telegram, one point is of vital
importance-the difficult Indian problem can not be solved permanently
at this end of the line. It requires the fulfillment by Congress of
the treaty obligations which the Indians were entreated and coerced
into signing. They signed away a valuable portion of their
reservation, and it is now occupied by white people, for which they
have received nothing. They understood that ample provision would be
made for their support; instead, their supplies have been reduced,
and much of the time they have been living on half and two-thirds
rations. Their crops, as well as the crops of the white people, for
two years have been almost a total failure. The disaffection is
widespread, especially among the Sioux, while the Cheyennes have been
on the verge of starvation and were forced to commit depredations to
sustain life. These facts are beyond question, and the evidence is
positive and sustained by thousands of witnesses. Serious difficulty
has been gathering for years. Congress has been in session several
weeks and could in a single hour confirm the treaties and appropriate
the necessary funds for their fulfillment, which their commissioners
and the highest officials of the government have guaranteed to these
people, and unless the officers of the army can give some positive
assurance that the government intends to act in good faith with these
people, the loyal element will be diminished and the hostile element
increased. If the government will give some positive assurance that
it will fulfill its part of the understanding with these 20,000 Sioux
Indians, they can safely trust the military authorities to subjugate,
control, and govern these turbulent people, and I hope that you will
ask the Secretary of War and the Chief Executive to bring this matter
directly to the attention of Congress.

[TEXT: James Mooney, The Ghost-dance Religion and the
Sioux Outbreak of 1890, 14th Annual Report of the Bureau of American
Ethnology, Part 2 (1896)]